


Buffy Issue 40 - Last Gleaming Part 5 - Coda -  Answering the Wrong Questions (Or..What Happens When a Writer Loses His Muse)

by shadowkat67



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics)
Genre: Buffy the Vampire Slayer References, Criticism, Dark Horse Buffy the Vampire Slayer Comics, Episode Related, Fandom Allusions & Cliches & References, Meta, Multi, Reviews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-23
Updated: 2011-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22420834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowkat67/pseuds/shadowkat67
Summary: Basically a critical analysis of why the comics didn't work and in particular issue 40.





	Buffy Issue 40 - Last Gleaming Part 5 - Coda -  Answering the Wrong Questions (Or..What Happens When a Writer Loses His Muse)

**Buffy Issue 40 - Last Gleaming Part 5 - Coda** or Answering the Wrong Questions (What Happens When a Writer Loses His Muse)

1) **Detailed Comic Review - or I read Buffy so you don't have to.**

 _"The Trouble with Changing the World is..."_ \- The theme of this series and this issue appears to be that you can't really change the world that much. Whedon apparently feels depressed about his attempts to write strong powerful female characters and that it hasn't really empowered women or changed things. I'm not sure what planet he's living on but it's not the same one I am. I see changes. Major ones. But we shall get to that. This is a line by line critique.

We enter a book/coffee cafe in San Francisco, where there's a sunny girl with blond hair, a cute uniform, and a name tag (oh look it's Penny! Oh sorry, that 's _the Big Bang Theory_ (a situation comedy taking place in San Francisco- in an alternate universe, Buffy and Penny would most likely be buds). And if you look closely she is wearing a name tag, just in case we can't figure out that it's not Penny. My bad.)

Buffy voice-over (which apparently only pops up in Whedon scripted issues, although I could be wrong about that.) _"I know. This looks bad, right? I'm back to waitressing."_ [Actually, it looks like a severe lack of imagination on the writer's part. Let me think...what would be a logical occupation for a slayer who has killer fighting skills to do? And is in top physical shape? And spent the last four years training people on how to fight supernatural creatures? Hmmm. Oh, I got it? How about a P.E. teacher? Or an aerobics instructor? Or a kung-fu/black belt teacher? Or Self-Defense trainer? Or a security guard? Or a body guard? Or a circus performer? And by the way they make more money than a waitress at a coffee shop.(well maybe not the circus performer). Another bit - this, waitressing, is a typically "female" occupation in Hollywood films, stories, etc. All the occupations and roles in this comic are "traditional female ones" bordering on cliche. Buffy == of course is a waitress at a coffee shop with a cute hair-do with big guys commenting on how she handles those big trays (I've seen waitresses handle more than that, but that comment is always made). Also the coffee shop doesn't appear to have male waiters - highly unrealistic considering it's a coffee shop catering to a decidedly male gay clientel. Dawn is (as far as I can tell) unemployed and letting Xander "take care of" her. We aren't told what she's studying. The girls are all "clutzs" or described as "clumsy". The weapon is a stake. And the only one with an army is a man. ]

 _"Plus side, I'm not clinically depressed_ (well one wouldn't blame you if you were, personally I'm guessing you should have a bit of PTD (post-traumatic stress disorder) going on...which would be interesting actually, but that's just because I'm obsessed with it at the moment) _"or wearing a hat with a chicken on it"_ (that's only because burger king and KFC protested - true story, they did, they told UPN that Whedon had to change that bit, everything else was fine), _"so this would be my best service-industry job to date "_ (possibly the lowest paying, since I can't imagine coffee shops pay more than Denny's. But I may be wrong about that. Why isn't this girl tending bar - great place to spot and kill vampires. Plus much higher tips. And she could sleep during the day. Whedon - a coffee shop waitress? Can you be any more cliche? No offense to the people on my flist who do this for a living.) _"Lotta cute guys too."_ (With incredibly short arms, big heads, and big hands...and hardly any shoulders, sorry perspective bugs me). _"Cute guys who are into other cute guys"_ (well if you like big head and tiny bodies - Jeanty's eye for perspective is bit off here.), _"but it's still nice after living in girltown all that time."_ (yes Buffy has traded Lesibian town for Homosexual town. And apparently prefers male company, because of course male company is better than female company! I can see her point, but it grates after all the other bits.)  


>   
>  Big head Bearded guy to Buffy : You got that okay.  
>  Buffy: You're gonna ask me that every time, aren't you.  
>  Big head Bearded guy who looks like Whedon: Well it's big and you're little. [Some day I need to meet Joss Whedon just so I can deliver that same line to him while I'm looking down at him. Whedon from photos is about 5'4 if that. I'm 6 ft. **Note: Whedon feels the need to have someone say this to Buffy in just about every episode. Wood said it in _Lessons_. Jenny said it in _Prophecy Girl_.]  
>  Buffy: In four months have I ever spilled a drink? [Yes, Buffy is that rarity amongs women and definitely not a clutz and has killer coordination due to her slayer superpowers - we get it. What boggles the mind is why you can't come up with a better job for her than a cliche that is in every tv series from here to the UK. And they say, too much tv warps the brain.]  
> 

Just in case we don't get the hint, the Scottish slayer with the hat and peasant skirt trips Buffy. (Okay maybe it's not the Scottish slayer, but it looks like her. Wasn't she killed in the big fight? Guess not.) And Buffy being super-coordinated manages to catch the tray with her foot not spilling anything. (They are not paying this girl enough. She can serve coffee and do headstands at the same time.)

 _"Lotta clumsy people in San Franscico. All of them girls."_ [Apparently Buffy's slayer army is still pissed at her. Can't think why. Oh, wait they are about to tell me. Also note - yet another comment about girls in the derogatory sense. That's the fourth in the space of less than two pages.]

>   
>  **Kennedy:** _What did you expect?_ (I don't know - that you and Willow would live happily ever after, with you fighting and Willow going back to school and becoming an awesome computer wiz.) _You sucked all the magic out of the world._ (except the magic that gives Buffy and Kennedy superstrength and enables vampires to keep on trucking...but hey, let's not be picky. The writer merely simplified his universe so that he could match it up with the much more dystopic Frayverse. Besides super-powered witches are passe.)  
>  **Buffy:** I didn't have a choice...(To be honest that plot was so confusing, that I'm not entirely sure what your choices were..)  
>  **Kennedy:** _Willow could have beaten them back. You weren't up there. You didn't see._ (Apparently Kennedy does know what they those choices were...although if I remember correctly Willow wasn't doing such a swell job beating back the vagina demons (for want of a better word) or was she creating vagina demons to beat back vagina demons? (the jury is still out on that one) I could be wrong about that - the beating them back not the vagina demons. Seemed to me - all she was doing was making things worse - so much so, that Xander (and Giles) were ready to destroy the seed himself. Hey, if Xander (or Giles for that matter) destroyed the seed - would that have made everyone mad at Xander (or Giles) and all men?)
> 
> **Buffy:** No I was underground, watching Giles die. (Actually watching Twangel, who you decided was your one true love (silly girl) kill Giles. But hey, same diff.)  
>  **Kennedy:** You want the whole history lesson? The one where that's your fault too? Where you superliterally fucked (I'm sorry but I'm not going to use weird symbols for a word that is clearly fucked and do the British versions of the comic get the actual word fucked? Are there different versions of this comic? OR is it the same? I'm guessing the same?)  
>  **Buffy:** Okay, all my fault, let's enjoy that reality but Willow needs you now. More than ever. She's lost her powers. How can you just leave.  
>  **Kennedy:** _Missed it again, genius. Willow dumped me._ (Yeah, Willow's playing with a full deck.)  
> 

Is it just me or are we spending a lot of time talking about things that I already know the answers to or have already been addressed multiple times in multiple different ways? Just me then.

Just in case we can't figure out why Willow dumped Kennedy, we get a conversation about it.

>   
>  **Willow:** It was coming. She couldn't see it. And she'd never admit it if she did, but... _Kennedy liked being with a superhero._ (No, Willow, it's you who thinks you need to be a superhero for anyone to want to be with you. Xander and OZ did a real number on you back in high school - neither got intrigued until you got all witchy. And it did not help that Tara was much the same way - Tara fell for you when you were magical. Poor Kennedy. But, unfortunately all of this turf has already been tread upon - you'd think Willow would have figured it out. But no. I'm highly tempted to go to Buffyscripts or whatever it's called and pull up Willow's dialogue with Buffy in Wrecked, but instead of doing that - I'll just refer you to my old meta on the topic, because honestly I don't feel like rehashing the same discussion all over again. So go here: 1)[http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/444538.html#cutid1](A%20Tale%20of%20Three%20Witches) and 2)<http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/446994.html#cutid1> and here <http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/443565.html#cutid1> and finally here:<http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/438475.html#cutid1>.)  
> 

At any rate...if you've seen _Wrecked_ , you know the conversation already. It's more or less the same one.

>   
>  **Willow** : _But she (Kennedy) still got the fighty. All the slayers that were called before you destroyed the seed are still slayers._ (At least that answers one question - which was bugging me. Do the slayers that Buffy empowered still have their power? Yep.) _There's no army._ (wait, no army? No...no army of slayers because they can't forgive Buffy for cutting off the line or because they can't forgive her for shagging the guy who was hunting them down and torturing and murdering them? I'm guessing the latter? In which case, can't say I blame them. Anyhow there's still a "male" army with guns and submarines...) _And no new slayers being called._ (Well, that's proven wrong in the Frayverse when Fray gets called...so just for now. Which you know, not exactly a bad thing. It's not like you don't have quite a few already. Nor do you exactly know what to do with the ones you've got.) _No magic._ (So apparently magic isn't what is keeping Angel and Spike kicking, and all those other vamps rampaging about, or Buffy super-powered. Good to know. Care to share what is? Oh, wait, Willow's talking about her magic or the earth magic that she could access...got it.)  
>  **Buffy** : Kind of went off on a tangent there...kind of the same one every time we talk. (Nice to know I'm not the only one experiencing deja-vue here.)
> 
> **Willow** : Kennedy likes power. (Actually Willow you like power. That's what attracted you to Tara, Kennedy, and to Buffy in the first place. They had power, which you wanted.) And not the power to program computers. (which you really shouldn't disdain...considering...look at Zuckerberg (the guy who invented Facebook).)  
>  **Buffy** : That's a pretty neat power (oh look Buffy agrees with me), though. Make good money...computers are becoming quite popular with the young people nowadays (Isn't Buffy 25? I'm never quite sure in these things. They are as bad bloody soaps - the writers can't do basic arithmetic. These characters stay 25 forever. I have no idea how old any of them are supposed to be. Technically - Buffy turned 30 this week, but...I can't tell if that's true in the comics.)  
>  **Willow:** _You made everything different Buffy._ (No, that was a group of crazy writers - Buffy just did whatever they told her to do, even if she thought it was insane troll logic at the time. Sort of like in S7 - "Scythe? There's a Scythe now? And it's always been lying around the Sunnydale vineyard, with an old woman sitting about in tomb in the Sunnydale cemetary who knew where it was...where were you Ms. Guardian - when Glory was attacking me?" and now - "Seed"? There's a Seed in the Hellmouth? Which the Master was supposed to be guarding, which was why he came here and got stuck? And we didn't know about this because..?" I mean it's not like Buffy had much guidance here - the writer threw mcGuffins at her from left field and told her to deal, without, mind you explaining what they were supposed to do. Which wait - wasn't Willow's original and main purpose to help with the research? Bad Willow.).  
>  **Buffy:** Wasn't that the idea? (Buffy like me isn't sure what Willow's talking about here. There's less vampires, no external demons, no Twilight, no end of the world...and they aren't being hunted. Plus still lots of slayers.)  
>  **Willow** : Not this time. Not this way. (Okaaay...) I know you need me to tell you it's not your fault, it's gonna be okay. I know you thought you had to do it. (Not exactly like she was being given any other options here. Protect the seed - watch the universes clash, give the seed to Twilight, watch her universe crumble and live in new one with her honey, destroy the seed, watch new universe go by-by, and live in old one. ) But the world is less. It doesn't even know it yet. But it's lost its heart. (Except up until issue 35 no one knew, including I suspect the writer, that this heart even existed? If it was sooo important why is it just coming up now? Bloody convenient if you ask me. Yeah, I know, applying logic to Whedon is a scarey thing.)
> 
> **Buffy** : Is that worse than being destroyed? ( Remember who you are talking to here, Buff.)  
>  **Willow** : Not yet. Eventually, I think it will be. (I don't know...how was it exactly better with magic and exactly what magic is gone? This has not been clarified people. (Well unless you count interviews with Scott Allie and George Jeanty - which, uhm, no. I shouldn't be expected to track down their interviews in order to figure out the factual plot points in a comic book written by Whedon.))  
>  **Buffy** : You've given up magic before. (Actually, no. She pretended to. Or have you forgotten? And it only lasted five or six episodes...I think. Would have to go back and check. This was the big mislead of S6 - where the writers attempt to fool the audience into thinking that Willow won't go crazy with magic and it's just a crack addiction. Ah.. the good old days.)  
>  **Willow** (in case you have forgotten): This isn't an addiction. (Could have fooled me). Don't even pretend I'm still that little girl. (Then stop sounding like her. Willow - you even have some of the same dialogue.).  
>  **Buffy** : And don't take my mista--my actions out on Kennedy! or Yourself. Come on. I'm rooting for Kennedy here! That deserves special consideration. (Considering Buffy hates Kennedy, I'd agree. Oddly Kennedy has grown on me. She has spunk. And no, not that kind of spunk - get your head out of the gutter please. Thank you. Moving on.) And possibly a plaque. (Not to be confused with plague. Easy to do trust me. And that may be going a tad far...(regarding plaque not plague although I guess it works for both)..not sure you deserve either, Buffster, Kennedy's not that bad. )
> 
> **Willow** : You...You're never not you, are you? (And who is she supposed to be Wills? The Queen of Sheba? I mean come on...how long have you known her? I guess that statement's supposed to mean that Buffy's self-absorbed bitca? Or it means that she's telling Willow what to do based on how she feels about it? ) The fact is...there's someone else. (Gee, I wonder who.) I didn't realize it - or I kidded myself -- for a long time but now (see told you Willow had a thing for power, it's not Kennedy. I mean who is more appealing to you - all powerful snake lady or super-powered slayer? The metaphor by the way is not exactly...how to put this...pro-female. Willow has the hots for a trickster, a negative female mother goddess with a snake tale (used often to connote male genitalia), and the subconscious or female anima - snake eating own tale. While Kennedy, a feminine lesbian with the ability to throw a guy against a wall, and has physical stamina is dumped. And this is all bracketed with the you know you just can't change the world...and they say Whedon's not a feminist.)
> 
> **Buffy** : Uhhh (now to give Buffy credit - Willow is touching Buffy's face in a rather gentle and somewhat suggestive fashion, as she states this...and how in the hell is Buffy supposed to know Willow has the hots for a snake goddess - outside of that brief bit in _Anywhere But Here_ \- I vaguely remember it and that's only because I looked at the pages recently.)
> 
> **Willow** : It's not you. Dumb-ass. It's someone I'll never see again. (Sigh. A moment to feel sorry for Willow and Saga Vasku (the snake goddess with the big tits and phallic tale)'s doomed romance.)  
> 

Now we get Buffy's nightmare - which is basically Twangel killing Giles and Giles dying again. Then Twangel, sorry Angel now, looking really confused about the whole thing. As if he wasn't present during any of it. Still unclear on what Angel was mentally present for and therefore culpable and what he wasn't. Can a character be culpable for constantly being manipulated into killing people and destroying the world? I think they lock those people up in insane asylums for life? Oh well, it does have a nice corollary to her nightmares regarding Angel in the S3 BTVS epiode Anne I suppose. (actually this whole issue feels very similar to that episode.)

Dawn pokes Buffy awake. Okay here's the big Dawn/Buffy bonding conversation. Which again doesn't really tell you anything you don't know.

First of all, let's clarify something that's been annoying me in regards to every recap I've read to date - Buffy is NOT crashing on Dawn's couch - she's crashing on Xander's (or if you prefer XANDER and Dawn's couch - since they are ahem, living together). Xander has decided to support Dawn, who has gone back to school. Xander has a job. Buffy has a job. Please note - Dawn does not to our knowledge hold a job. If anything he implies she does not have one, because she's in school, not even one working at a coffee shop or bookstore. Dawn has never had a job. Dawn has never worked, well outside of a very brief gig with Anya, but that was to pay off the amount she stole from Anya. In short Dawn basically sponges off others while she goes to college, which would be justifiable if Dawn were a) from a rich family, b) had a father who was supporting her (who according to everything we've been told is most definitely not), c) did not have an older sister who has no money, has struggled to make ends meet, spends most of her time fighting demons and vampires and possibly is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and had to drop out of college to pay for Dawn. Does Dawn get a job? No. I mean you can - that actually is who works in coffee shops - kids going to college to pay their way (not highly effective method of paying one's way but they usually have people like Xander supporting them while they are doing this, so it doesn't matter). So, to say Buffy is crashing on Dawn's couch is not true. Dawn didn't pay for the couch and is not married to Xander (as far as I know). Also, it should be noted that Buffy is actually working and has a job. Two. By day she makes money which I'm guessing contributes to Dawn's tuition(?) (unless Dawn lucked out and is going tuition free at some public university - is that still possible? I think they tried to overrule that a while back which resulted in a huge protest?) and rent (can't imagine it pays for much) and food (probably just that), and by night she kills vampires which keeps Dawn and Xander safe.

Xander clearly has another high profile construction job. And promptly leaves for it. We get very little of Xander in this issue, except for the fact that he has convinced Dawn to move in with him, they are definitely a couple, and he is working construction. My hero. Now my difficulty with Dawn and Xander is the same difficulty I had with Cordelia and Connor. Or for that matter Buffy hooking up with Giles. But I'm also incredibly amused by the fact Whedon did it - particularly since I'm willing to bet that Noxon and Fury would have been squicked by it, as would Nicholas Brendan and they would have talked him out of it - had thDis been on tv. (Nick Brendan actually said as much in his blog - stating quite clearly in response to Xander/Dawn - Ewww.) How do I know this? Because they were squicked by Dawn/Spike in Bargaining and Buffy/Giles ships. They say so in the commentary.

Now to be clear: It's not the age difference that bugged them or me for that matter. It's how Whedon chose to build this relationship - which is built as a paternal/big brother mentoring a little sister/adopted daughter that he is helping raise. Note - when Joyce Summers dies, and Buffy is tasked with taking care of Dawn, Xander increasingly takes on a **paternal** role - notably in S7 - where he pep talks Dawn, and listens to her, and guides her as Giles did for Buffy. The dialogue exchanges are similar. In the comics - this becomes even more clear - with both Buffy's initial dream sequence, where she thanks Xander for being her paternal help for Dawn, and in later issues. Xander's relationship with Dawn is a bit too similar to Gile's with Faith. Hmm, maybe Giles slept with Faith. Would certainly fit the pattern.

The other problem with Dawn/Xander - is Xander is the big cheese. He's older, wiser, and stronger than Dawn. Unlike his relationship with Renee - where they were actually equals or even Cordelia and Anya. Dawn is dependent on Xander - on his money and his physical strength. Yet they are the most stable relationship. And a point is made in the conversation that follows that Dawn has abandoned the fight for her schooling - so she's not even assisting, not that she ever really was. She was constantly being saved in the comics. (And people say Whedon isn't a feminist. I really have no idea why anyone would say that.)

Finally...this is a very cliche and predictable. But the Dawn/Xander relationship has been cliche and predictable from the start. It does not pose any interesting questions or change anything. It's not subversive in the least. Unless you think an older guy dating and setting up house with a girl that is the kid-sister of his best friend and he helped raise is subversive? No, Buffy shacking up with Connor would be subversive. But this tale dates back to Gidget and well half a dozen other 1950s and 1960s tv shows. Hardly new turf. Actually, the X-Men did more or less the same story a while back. Oh...I always saw her as my kid-sister or my friend's sister...now she's all grown up and I'm in love! (Personally? I liked Dorothy Dunnett's take the best in the Chronicles of Lymond with Lymond and Phillipa- it was built well and the most convincing.) Also, it's a common theme in the series - Buffy hooks up with older men never men her own age, and Dawn hooks up with older men. *cough*Daddyissues*cough*.

>   
>  Dawn: Nightmare?  
>  Buffy: What else?  
>  Dawn: Is this the one where Angel and Spike get it Awwn?  
>  Buffy: Worse. Like True. (Yeah, I'd have to agree - issues 34- 40 have been worse than Always Darkest Before the Dawn...wish we'd known that at the time. There's something to be said for waiting until the entire series has been published before buying it.)  
>  Dawn: It's every morning, you know...you're like an alarm clock.  
>  Buffy: I'm sorry. I will get a place real soon.  
>  Dawn: No, it's good. (should be, considering Buffy didn't kick you out of her castle even though you were a Giant pain in her arse. And make you work for a living.) _We don't have an alarm clock._ (hee - funniest line of the entire comic. That's a great comeback line.)  
>  Dawn: And I like having you around. (obviously, or you wouldn't have stayed in that castle.)  
>  Buffy: Me too. Even if you have abandoned the fight for your "schooling" whatever that is..(Huh? Okay, Buff, just because you chose to be a college drop-out and Willow dropped out of college, doesn't mean Dawn should - unless of course you are paying her way...then I completely see where you are coming from. This begs the question - did Dawn get a scholarship? Inquiring minds want to know. Or is her tuition free because she's a California resident and going to a state school?)  
>  Dawn: Please everybody knows I was the Scrappy-Doo of that gange. (still are in my opinion. And yes, that about sums it up. Although I admittedly liked you in S5 -7. S8 was when you began to get on my nerves.)  
>  Buffy: No! You weren't -- Giant you was pretty Damn handy. (How exactly? Oh right in Tokyo. Is it just me or does anyone else think that Whedon would kill to do a remake of Land of the Giants?)  
>  Whatever happened to mecha-you? (this is Whedon talking not Buffy. Buffy wasn't into Giant Dawn, Whedon was into Giant Dawn. Buffy saw Giant Dawn as a pain.)  
>  Dawn: Besides no more fight. (eh, you wish.)  
>  Buffy: No more gang. (deja-vue big time. They said the same thing at the end of S6, actually this feels a lot like the S6 ending, Lesson's beginning.)  
>  Buffy: _Still plenty of vampires though._ (fancy that). _And vampire wannabees_ (can they still become vampires? That question has never been truly answered. Yes or no? And please provide "Textual" backup. I don't want speculation (ETA: this includes whatever Allie or Jeanty state in some interview on the internet). I can do speculation on my own. Or interpretation for that matter.)  
>  _Thought that craze would pass._  
>  Dawn: Are you kidding? Have you watched tv lately? Or a movie? Or a greeting card? (Kinda busy, working, fighting vamps, trying not to have nightmares - not everyone has had your cushy life, pet.)  
>  Buffy: At least Harmony's show got canceled. (Yay! No more killing slayers on reality tv. Still doesn't answer my question though.)  
>  Dawn: She's doing Dancing with the Stars. (Apparently Harmony is the Bristol Palin of the Buffyverse, who knew?)  
>  Buffy: Balls. (so Buffy actually does use Giles and Spike's curse words?)  
> 

Now Dawn asks if Buffy misses the War. What a dumb question. Wait, she clarifies - she means being a leader.

>   
>  Dawn: Not the war part. Being a leader. I mean with an army. You got to be what you were born to be. A leader. Without them. You're back to being bossy. (Actually I never thought of Buffy as all that bossy. Dawn yes. Buffy no. Dawn also is incredibly whiny - and Buffy keeps telling her to get over it and take care of herself. Which isn't exactly bossy. Sorry the whole sister vibe is lost on me. I was raised with a younger brother - brother's don't whine, they are stoic and kick you for whining.)  
>  Buffy: I don't know. No. That was nightmare. It's just...everybody else woke up. Forgot the nightmare. So I'm back to living it alone. (I don't know, you were going on about how alone you were in issue one of this series way back in 2007. There's just no pleasing you. Although I get it. I don't understand Xander though - he's so wishy-washy. He joins the big fight when they are in a castle, he has cool outfits, cool equipment, and it's fun. But when there's no money and it's just Buffy alone in the dark with vampires - he's back to pretending it's not a fight for him anymore. Same deal with Willow - if it's cool - she's there, if it's not, she's out. I noticed this dichotomy in S6 vs. S7 and S5. In S7 they are all - oh we have to fight with Buffy. In S6 - when Buffy actually needs them, no, no, we don't want to help, we have our own more interesting lives to lead. Gee, with friends like these who needs enemies. Although that is actually quite realistic. Depressing, ain't it?)  
>  Dawn: Not alone. (She sits down next to her sister and hugs her.) Not till Xander and I get sick of you. (Actually I don't think you or Xander have the right to kick Buffy to the curb, considering all the crap she's done for you with little payback. I mean - Castle, Destroying the Seed, paying your way...hello. Sure there was the whole Twangel shagfest, but as far as I can tell that didn't hurt you that much.) Then you're on the street. Bossy-pants. (Personally, if I were Buffy, I'd hitch a ride to Rome and become a personal body-guard, maybe even look up the Immortal who is supposed to be frolicking with the other me, but that's just me.)  
> 

We go see General Voll (I'm guessing this is still Voll. He looks more or less the same, no new cast changes.)Voll doesn't seem all that happy with what happened. Depressed more like. Apparently being put out to pasture doesn't sit well with him. So he dejectedly pushes a button on the elevator to leave the military compound - only to be shot by Simone the Rogue Slayer (who I almost forgot about). How Simone managed to infiltrate the compound, no idea. Or how she got out without anyone noticing.

We jump to Giles funeral - which I'm guessing is a flashback, we aren't exactly told one way or another.

Giles leaves everything but **the Vampyr book** that we saw in Season 1 to Faith. This includes the money, the flat, the farm and the horses. (So what - Giles is wealthy? If this is the case - why in the hell was Buffy working at the Doublemeat Palace or at all? Why wasn't Giles paying her a living stipend so she could focus her time on slaying? Some watcher. This guy has tons of money, is being paid by the council (Buffy even made sure he got back-pay in S5) and I'm guessing a good portion of that dough came from the council - and Buffy's doing menial labor to afford to live? The best he can do is write her a check for bad plumbing? Also, what exactly is he getting paid to do exactly? Research? Somewhat ineffectively by the way.)

>   
>  Buffy: I didn't come to contest the will Faith...  
>  Faith: But you gotta be asking everyone else is...Xander practically stared a hate-beam through me and that's just with the one eye. So, straight up - I don't have the answer. (That's good, because I do. This one is obvious. Faith got the money because at the time Giles wrote up the will - Buffy was living in a Castle, had special funding (apparently Giles didn't know about the bank robbery? ) and didn't need his help - except with the research. Granted way back in S6 - he should have helped a bit more and in particular in S5, but hey, that was then, this is now.)  
>  Faith: I got a theory is all. He thinks you're stronger than I am. (No, that makes no sense. I'm not sure where you got that from.) I'm not blowing smoke. Pretty much means he thought I was a puss which irritates the hell out of me, but..(why would he think you're a puss? Because you didn't want to kill Gigi? ) Hah! Got it! He must have figured I needed more help. So I get the money, the flat, the farm, the horses...  
>  Buffy: You get horses? (poor Buffy, she always wanted a pony. You'd think Faith could let her have one, for old times sake.)  
>  Faith: And you get this one crappy item. You know what that says? It says you're the slayer...  
>  (Sigh, the cheesy book from Season One.)  
>  Faith: You're the only slayer. You always were.  
>  Buffy: Then I really did fail. (not exactly, you empowered people. You just made the mistake of shagging Twangel is all. No idea why you did that...)  
>  Faith: I don't wanna watch you blubber, B. Your "everybody into the pool" empowerment trick brought down the First, but it also put a lot of girls through the meat grinder. (Actually it didn't. They would have gone through that anyhow. It's how they chose to handle the power, much as it was how Faith chose to handle it. That's on them not Buffy. People need to own their mistakes in life not blame others. ) I spent a lot of time trying to put some of them back together. (When exactly? Gigi?  
>  How'd that go for you? See - this happened off stage and it was interesting. It had interesting questions - such as how we own our actions, how we handle power, and what power means on an individual basis. It's not like they couldn't have explored it - as opposed to that weird issue where Giles and Faith fight a monster being feed slayers by a bunch of Watchers in Victorian Germany or the Pgymallion four issue arc where they set Faith up to charm Gigi in Victorian England which was actually now, but in the Whedonverse - Europe stays in Victorian times while America is all 21st century.) Guess that training should come in handy now.  
>  Buffy: Faith are you sure you can handle...  
>  Faith: I'm sure of dick, except that I'm the only one willing to handle. You can't look at him. Everyone else wants his head on a pike..me..I'm all about forgiveness. [And we get a picture of a battered Twangel, sorry Angel now, in a catatonic state in Giles' house, make that Faith's.] (Yeah, yeah, I get it Faith, if first you don't succeed in redeeming Angel, try try again. Well, that is until Angel stakes someone you desperately love...and we'll see. Sorry. I'm all about the staking. Let's back up a bit...Angel's not human. He's a 245 and counting year old vampire. ie. HE's already dead. Who to my knowledge has attempted to end the world at least five times, albeit a few of those were either by accident or inadvertent, but still. Forgiving Angel is a bit like forgiving Hitler or Charles Manson, there comes a time in which we all just have to let go and do what needs to be done. The guy isn't human. He's lived past his time. He really can't contribute anything. And he keeps trying to kill everybody. Why is he still alive? And if you're keeping him alive, why bother slaying the other vamps? Shouldn't we just have a redemption camp for all vampires? I get that we shouldn't apply logic but - the guy has killed more people than Hitler.)  
> 

Next up is a conversation with Spike. They've neatly juxtaposed the Spike/Faith(Angel) tale.  
Spike knocks on Buffy's window, and she opens it. I only know this is Spike - for the dialogue, the blond hair and the blue eyes, otherwise I'd think it was Andrew. Yes, Jeanty is drawing Spike like Andrew now.

>   
>  **Spike** : Oi. (Remind never to complain about fanfic writers using dialect and slang again.)  
>  **Buffy** : Are you parked on the roof again? (apparently this is a recurring thing?)  
>  **Spike** : If you'd invite me in, I wouldn't have to crawl about, would I? (considering he invited her and her gang into his ship.)  
>  **Buffy** : Not my house, blondie bear. (so it's a house? Xander apparently has money stashed somewhere. Or is making big bucks on that construction gig. San Fran ain't cheap.)  
>  **Spike** : I've Begged you not to call me that. Reminds me of that moron who -- among other things -- has completely ruined Dancing with the Stars this Season. (Apparently Spike is not a fan of Harmony, any more than I am.)  
>  **Buffy** :Did you come here for any reason at all?  
>  **Spike** : Rumblings pet. While you're gadding about serving cappuccinos, I'm keeping my ear to the ground. (actually cappuccino's are passe, it's lattes now or frappoccinos). Somebody's coming for you. (aren't they always. This gal never gets a break.)  
>  **Buffy** : Who? (does it matter. I'm sure you have a list somewhere of all the people you've pissed off. Spike and you could compare notes.)  
>  **Spike** : I haven't actually got that yet. (Spike has apparently taken over the role of Giles in the Buffyverse. He not only provides confusing exposition but also is the provider of cryptic warnings. Wait, was that Giles or Angel on the latter?)  
>  **Buffy** : Wow. Thank God you've got my back. (And now Whedon's using the same dialogue he used in Welcome to the Hellmouth and most of Buffy's interactions with Angel. Apparently it was Angel who provided the cryptic warnings. Got to love the symmetry and the repetition. Nice and comforting that.)  
>  **Spike** : Well, who else does right now? (Good point.)  
>  **Buffy** : Don't worry about me. Giles left me this super-useful book. (yep, same dialogue, except it was Giles has this super-useful book. Which come to think of it, was never very useful. It seemed to be lacking key things like Scythe's, Guardians, Key's, and Seed's - but hey, at least it told her how to kill vampires.)  
>  **Spike** : Look I know everybody thinks you're a useless bint that ruined everything right now...  
>  **Buffy** : _why did we ever break up?_ (You were together? I thought that was just meaningless sexcapades. Or are we talking about that weird pseudo/not relationship during S7? Need some help here. This reminds me of the throw-away line in S7 - "why does everyone still think I'm in love with Spike?" In which the audience responded - with a collective - Huh? )  
>  **Spike** : But I know the truth. You were faced with decisions no one has to make. Attacked. Controlled. By forces no one comprehends (including the writer) And you pulled your people through. (well except for the 200 slayers killed, possibly OZ, Bay, their kid, and Giles...but hey whose counting.) So honestly? Fuck anybody who thinks they could've done better. (I wrote fucked. Whedon wrote f#%&. Just so we're clear.) The world was on Fire. (That's an understatement). The world always is on fucking fire and you're always right in the thick of it and the only difference this time is that people actually noticed. (Spike certainly likes to make long speeches...wait he's not done.) So they judge. And they carp, and debate. But put the scythe in their hands and they'd shake like a trifle on a train. (Now he's done...apparently he's also taken on Xander's role of giving long cheerleading speeches. Hmmm, guess we don't need Xander any more either. I don't know about anyone else? But I preferred evil Spike's speeches, they were funnier and shorter.)  
>  **Buffy** : I broke the scythe.  
>  **Spike** : Yeah, I didn't really get what that thing was. (Neither did I to be honest. But according to the last issue - it apparently is the only thing that can destroy the seed of magic and empower the slayer line. Oh and it can make mincemeat of Turok-Han otherwise known as Noodles the Vampire. That's about all I got.) The point is...  
>  **Buffy finally breaks down in tears** : Got it.  
>  **Spike** : What's wrong with you? (Is it just me or was he more empathetic when he was soulless and evil?)  
>  **Buffy** : Nothing! Good talk! Come again!  
>  **Spike** : You're weird. (Well, yeah, she shagged the bad guy and almost destroyed the world.)  
>  Buffy falls in the window. Apparently Spike brings out the clutz in Buffy, good to know.  
>  **Spike** : I live in a dirigible run by insects. (Sigh, apparently the end of magic didn't change that.) And you're still particularly weird.  
>  **Buffy** : Got it! You're still not invited in. Bye Now! (She desperately wants to get rid of him for some reason.)  
> 

That actually read "shippy" to me. Although oddly out of character for Spike. It felt off somehow. Probably just me. Lots of monologues and speechifying in this thing. And about stuff we already know. Yes, yes, it's Buffy's fault. Yes, yes, Buffy feels guilty. Yes, yes, Buffy must pay.

Buffy voice over again - _Alone, every night. I guess I got used to having an army around me, and now I'm ..._ (actually she had the same complaint in the first issue of this series and at that point it was more interesting and far less depressing). Dawn at this point decides to disgust Buffy and me by making noises of having sex with Xander.

 **Buffy** : Thinking about getting my own place, like really soon. (Has got to be awkward listening to Xander and Dawn get it on...considering. But on the other hand, they had to watch Buffy shag Angel to outter-space and back, after almost being killed by the Dude. (Twangel not well the Dude from The Big Lebowoski, although I can see how one might get confused.) So Dawn's certainly entitled. Just wish it didn't have to gross me out. This is odd. The only sexual relationship in this series that worked for me was Satsu and Buffy. (Note:I'm not counting Willow and Kennedy - since we rarely see them together). Dawn it turns out is just doing it to tease Buffy into going out on patrol - would serve Dawn right if Buffy didn't come back and got killed. But, hey, at least it was a tease, and we didn't actually have to see Jeanty's artistic rendering of it. (Yes, there is a god, dear readers.)

Buffy voice-over: If I didn't know Dawnie, better, I'd swear she was doing that on purpose. (You clearly don't know her. Sadistic creature your sister.) Don't mind getting out though - the night air, the city beneath me...this feels right. (ah, maybe not so sadistic - getting Buffy out is a good thing.) Feels like home. (Until she gets attacked by a bunch of slayers who aren't calling themselves slayers because they justifiably hate her for well shagging the guy who tortured and killed their sisters, almost destroyed the world - no, wait, that's not the reason they hate her. That would actually make logical sense. Who am I kidding. This is the whedonverse. No, they hate her for saving the world and destroying the seed of all magic, because it did what exactly? Stop slayers like themselves from being called? Or stop the Wiccans from practicing magic? Not quite clear on this.)

And we get another speech. "You betrayed us..." (But we are saved having to hear it, I'm guessing Whedon got tired?) Instead Buffy gives us her version.

Buffy: _I betrayed the cause. I cut off the line of slayers. (--long sidebard about them not calling themselves slayers anymore. Don't want to be associated with me.---) I destroyed the wiccan community, tainted the earth, let all my friends down...Jesus..do they think I don't already know?_ (Okay, destroying the seed did all that? So women are no longer empowered. They don't get power?) Buffy refuses to fight them, they insist, Buffy easily beats them. (See - she should be teaching kick-boxing not serving coffee.) She tells them if they don't leave her alone, she will fight them. (Pointing out that kicking their ass just then, wasn't really fighting them. Sigh. This is so old hat.) _So that sucked. And as bad as it feels to take out my own girls...I know there's more coming -- and not just cause Spike's playing cub reporter. I know because that's how betrayal works._ (Actually it would have happened anyway. This is a horror story that appears to be endless.)

And we see the potential villains for season 9 - Willow looking at Aliwuyn Saga Vasku, who Buffy robbed her of. Tinkerbell the fairy who is flying up from the grating (not sure what her beef is - maybe the end of all magic is the end of her kind?). Simone - who has killed Voll and some fat guy and is now gunning for Buffy (but wasn't she always).

 _"Sometimes I'm not even sure which part was the betrayal. Everyone's got their own version. I'm pretty sure it was boinking Twilight, but still_ (you'd be right on that score, that's what I think too. Although why you boinked Twilight still doesn't quite play for me. But then I never quite bought the whole Xander/Dawn/Buffy triangle either - and you sort of have to, in order to buy into the whole boinking Twilight. )There's a picture of some bleeding guy with glasses who looks like a demented John Lennon as played by John Barrowman. Maybe he's the Immortal? Maybe the whole Twilight bit killed Buffy's double in Italy and he's seeking revenge? (No wait, that was a fanfic I read. I doubt Whedon will go there. )

She fights a vampire.

 _"The trouble with changing the world is...you don't. Not all at once. You just inch it forward, a bit at a time and watch it slip back like the greek guy with the rock_ (apparently Whedon can't spell Sisyphus either. And I thought that was the theme of Angel? And Firefly? Way to borrow from yourself). _And you hope that when you're done, you've moved it up a little changed it just enough you hope. Let's go to work."_

So ends S8. Buffy's back to square one. Men rule, women...fight in the shadows, hiding their strength. (I got that from the Good Wife, which actually handles this particular theme in a far better manner, far more realistically, and with more shades of gray. This rendering is a tad black and white for my taste.)

This story feels a bit too familiar. I've seen and read it before. It's status quo. People dislike change. They prefer S1-3 and want those seasons repeated ad naseum. Change is uncomfortable and painful. They fight against it. And whine incessantly about it. Particularly Hollywood, and the male power structure that sits behind it.

This is a reminder of how short-sighted the Hollywood power structure is and men who write comic books with their male pals, while their wives stroke their colossal egos. About a year or so ago, an amazing thing happened. Cathernne M. Valente beat Joss Whedon for Best Web Series - for her YA novel, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Her Way Through Fairyland with a Ship of Her Own Making. Whedon was up for the typical guy piece entitled _Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog_. What was wonderful about this is Valente - a fan of Whedon, who got her start writing fanfic, has managed slowly over time to build a nitch for herself in fantasy and sci-fi. Most recently she did an online comic of one of her fantasy stories, _Deathless_. Another success story - Felicia Day - wrote a best-selling web-series entitled _The Guild_ and did a comic off of it. Shondra Rhimes, a Whedon fan, wrote and directed and ran an emmy-winning tv series about female surgeons on network tv - which has been on for Seven years and is critically acclaimed in its seventh season and will most likely outlast the series Whedon did, which inspired her. Last year, a woman won the Oscar for Best Director for an War Film, The Hurt Locker. And soon, a woman will write the script for the Buffy reboot, which with any luck will be directed by a female director.

The thing is? The world is changing Mr. Whedon. More and more women are writing comic books, tv shows, and films. Julie Plec is executive producer and co-show-runner on Vampire Diaries. Nikita - a show about several strong women is doing rather well. JK Rowlings wrote the best-selling Harry Potter series and Stephanie Meyer did Twilight - the other Twilight.

Hillary Clinton ran for President. And almost got the Democratic ticket. She is now, Secretary of State - the second woman Secretary of State [ETA: In 2016, She did get on the Democratic Ticket for President, and multiple women are running in 2020. Also many woman made it into Congress in 2018.

Is the US sexist? Yes. But it's getting better. So much better. Comics are still fairly sexist and this one is no exception, but there are comics out there that aren't. Gail Simone. Elena Casagrande. Rebecca Issaks. The author of Persepolis. To name a few. Janet Evanovich is writing them now as well. Women are breaking into the boys club. Mariah Hueher is another one. And Felicia Day.

So, actually, the world does change a lot and sometimes all at once (look at the iphone and the internet - which is by the way freeing up the concourse for brainy women). And it does happen gradually too (We have a black president - something I did not think I'd see in my lifetime). And you do empower others. (In ways you don't even understand.) Books like the Buffy comics really aren't realistic depictions of what is happening, they are just one writer's narrow and somewhat limited perspective from the ivory tower of Hollywood. A skewed magic mirror of celebrities and party cheese.

2\. **Review of S8 generally speaking and Whedon's letter to fans**

I read Whedon's letter to his fans...which made me roar with laughter. In it he thanks Scott Allie for being, get this, the reason why there are editors and.. the best season show-runner ever - keeping track of the big picture and the minutia. (Hmmm... Apparently the main role of an editor, according to Whedon, is to write the story while the writer is unavailable and tell the writer how great he is. And take all the heat on fan-forums, while the writer is applauded. ). Reading Whedon's letter makes me realize that Whedon doesn't see the flaws in his work. That there were far too many writers involved (too many even for him to count or thank apparently), and that Brad Meltzer was a master of structure (couldn't tell from the comics, but hey he might have been if he knew what was happening between his arc and Long Journey Home). There are so many things wrong here..

*Whedon had his editor write the culminate arc of his story, and only took time out to write the coda  
*Whedon did not think it necessary to inform the other writers, outside of Brad Meltzer, who the villain was or what the main story was.  
*Whedon did not think it necessary to clue Brad Meltzer who wrote the climax and big reveal what happened prior and what was going to be written between the intro and that reveal or how he was going to wrap it up.

Those are just off the top of my head.

I entitle this review answering the wrong questions or what happens when the writer loses his muse.  
This whole story or Season 8 if you prefer feels very derivative to me. The questions the writer poses and answers aren't questions that haven't already been answered over and over again. The plot makes little logical sense - so the coda in some respects feels off, like it's been pulled from another tale. The characters seem to go in circles. And do not grow. (Well outside of maybe Faith - who was never front and center, and we only got five issues on anyhow). No real change happens in this story..except maybe the Xander/Dawn relationship - which was so last year anyhow. The writer does what he's always done which is take his characters from high point to low point to high point to low point, but without any clear evolution. It's hard for me to care what happens to these people. They don't appear to do anything "new" or different. The writer isn't taking any real risks with either his verse or his characters, instead he just puts in a bunch of special effects. In some respects this story reminds me of AVATAR - lots of hype, little substance, although to be frank - AVATAR had more substance. Which is saying something.

Does Buffy realize her mistakes? Do we learn why she did what she did? Do we learn why Angel did what he did? Do we know what happened to the other slayers? To OZ? Or Why Spike is still in a dirigible with insects, why he's in one to begin with? Do we care? The questions regarding Spike and Angel may actually be answered by Lynch and Mariah. But not by Whedon.


End file.
